05-Boletín USTA - Speaks (Quinta Edición)

Issue 5
Nov-Dec
2016
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FOREIGN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE
New York Culture
What is the Finding
Dory movie effect?
Walk with teacher
Find out how a blockbuster
film affects
Nelson through his
memories and the
real life.
streets of the Big
Apple. Go to page 6
Find it out on page 4
Equal Rights
Read more, page 8
A wonderful event
ustaspeaksvillavo@usantotomas.edu.co

EDITORIAL
2
Writing: a way to scatter thoughts
By: Lucimaver González Robayo, FLI Coordinator
Dear faithful readers,
USTA SPEAKS welcome you to our fifth edition –
an edition inspired by teaching experiences. The main
purpose of this publication is to share the vast knowledge
of the USTA community, and encourage others
to become interested in writing.
Being immersed in a teaching community implies
that one is aware of their own teaching and learning
environments, which can encourage both students and
educators to reflect on teaching dynamics in a variety
of settings. Therefore, students and teachers can examine
their beliefs about teachers’ views on effective
motivational strategies, and build positive and academic
contexts.
One way to think about meaningful teaching practices
is to contrast it with day-to-day surroundings. In
this sense, this bulletin allows readers to feel identified
with teaching patterns that emerge spontaneously while
interacting inside an academic environment.
We open this edition with: (Brief description of the
sections included in this edition)
The FLI thanks all teachers, students, and writers
who helped make this bulletin possible. All your inspirational
papers are meaningful and relevant insights to
our teaching context. We encourage the community to
contribute to future editions, and make all teaching and
classroom experiences more visible in our daily lives.
On behalf of USTA SPEAKS, I want to thank to the
Editorial Committee for their effort and hard work.
―There’s always room for a story that can transport
people to another place.‖— J.K. Rowling
Fr. José Arturo Restrepo Restrepo O.P.
President
Fr. Fernando Cajicá Gamboa O.P.
Academic Vice-president
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Coordinator
Lucimaver González Robayo
Editor
Yomaira Angélica Herreño Contreras
Proofreaders
Mckenna Marie Wellhousen
Designer and Diagrammer
Iván Felipe Marín Escobar
Frontend Developer
Rubén Mauricio Muñoz Morales
www.idiomasustavillavo.com

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STUDENTS’ INSIGHTS U TA
Descansa
By: Juan Carlos Álvarez Rojas, Law Student, 4 th semester
Mariposa agonizante y angustiada no vueles más,
Descansa tus alas, estás hastiada de vivir,
El mismo viento de todos los días ya no huele a gloria y libertad
como antes,
Como antes que sin importar nada te sumergías entre los
bosques y restaurantes,
Como antes que volabas entre nubes y pensamientos,
Como antes que adornabas pinturas y momentos,
Pero todo es pasajero y no te culpo por posarte en uno de
mis muros aguardando la parca,
Mi cuarto al igual que tu vibra es oscura y repulsiva,
Y te ocultas en el blanco manicomio de mi encierro,
Dando giros estrepitosos intentas abandonar aquel sentimiento de finalidad,
Pero como todo ser viviente sucumbes ante el imperio de los
muertos, No caes, permaneces inerte, estable, firme, pero ausente…
Te admiro, así deseo morir, como tú y los árboles, ajeno y de pie.
Beatriz Level, Brazilian exchange student
DESEO
Deseo que el sol ilumine tu alma,
quiero que la vida te sonría
cuando te encuentres triste.
Dudo que puedas tener tanta tranquilidad
como cuando estás conmigo.
Necesito que no olvides
los buenos momentos vividos,
y que puedas esperar un poco más
hasta que vuelva,
y una vez más pueda mirar en tus ojos,
y ver a través de tu alma
que estás tranquilo
una vez más por estar a mi lado.
“If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must
be the one to write it.” Toni Morrison

TEACHERS’ VIEW
TEACHERS’ VIEW
4
By: Nelson Segura, English Teacher,
Foreign Language Institute, Santo Tomás University
NEW YORK CULTURE
Empire State Building
I grew up in
Brooklyn one
of the 5 boroughs
of
New York
City. NYC is
also called
the Big Apple,
there are
many rumors
why it was
named the Big
Apple. NYC is also known as the Melting Pot because
it’s a place where people from many cultures
form a new diverse society. In NYC you can be in
the middle of Chinatown and just a few short
Brooklyn Bridge
blocks away be in Little Italy. The same with people.
I grew up with Italians, Puerto Ricans and Russian
Gypsies. So you can also find all different
types of food at a short distance. I loved growing
up in NY because of the 4 seasons, in the Fall we
played football and went to Central park to look at
how the leaves on the trees changed colors, in the
Winter we went ice skating in Rockefeller Center
and made snowmen in front of the house, in the
Spring we would go to the zoo and the park. And
in the Summer we would go to the pool, the beach
or simply open a fire hydrant on our block. There
was always something to do whether it was playing
stickball in the street or taking the subway into the
city to watch a movie, catch a Broadway show or
just watch the street performers. I wouldn’t trade
my childhood
in
Brooklyn
and am
very grateful
for it
today. NY
has also
produced
Statue of Liberty
some of my favorite people. With the exception of
Donald Trump. New Yorkers were the people who
made my childhood special, including of course
my family and friends. And I can’t forget my favorite
baseball team the NY Yankees, the best team
in baseball history. In conclusion if so many cultures
can get along in NYC. Why can this happen
all over the world. NYC is probably the only city
Time Square

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TEACHERS’ VIEW U TA
CAN VIRTUAL EDUCATION BE EFFECTIVE?
By: Jaime Andrés Prieto Torres, Basic Sciences - Master in Electronic and Systems Engineering
Classroom education has been the most used
approach by people. However, these teaching programs
set strict conditions about places and times
for developing them. This inflexibility had promoted
virtual education. These kind of teaching programs
use ICT for setting interaction between
teachers and students. It is highly flexible regarding
locations and schedules. However, could this
approach satisfy learning people needs?
On one hand, ICT in virtual education keeps
content available all the time, and students are free
to look for resources as long as they wish. Additionally,
ICT bridges communication between
teachers and students by setting spaces for solving
doubts, sharing information, and promoting collaborative
work. This educational environment permits
the students to save money and time in terms
of transportation from campus to campus.
On the other hand, virtual education does not
offer face to face interaction, making it difficult to
build strong relationships between teachers and
classmates. It is an environment in which it is not
easy to make friends.
In conclusion, even without personal contact
with teachers and classmates, virtual education is
an efficient educational approach that fosters autonomous
learning. Nevertheless, effectiveness of
virtual education depends on the students. Only
with responsible and determined students it is possible
to ensure high level of effectiveness. Virtual
education is an amazing system which offers great
resources and tools that allows its students to reach
“If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.” Peter Handke

TEACHERS’ VIEW
6
WHAT IS THE FINDING DORY MOVIE EFFECT?
By: Fabian Moreno Rodriguez, Basic Sciences
Master in Sustainable Environmental Management
This summer (2016) Disney/Pixar presents their newest movie Finding
where a Royal Blue Tangs (Paracanthurus hepatus (Linnaeus, 1766)), called
is looking for her lost parents. What happens, though, when a successful
movie like this one is watched by a lot of people on the planet? This might
have certain consequences for the Royal Blue Tangs.
Dory,
Dory
When we go to a pet shop to buy some fish, we do not know much
about those animals, and the owner is probably lying about their origins. Howev- er, the
Royal Blue Tangs are commonly caught in their own habitat by the use of cyanide (a toxic substance).
Another problem is the fact that these species of marine reef fish have not been efficaciously bred in
captivity, so every single fish might have been captured from its reef. For this reason, some research
groups feel concerned. The worldwide P. hepatus sales could increase significantly after the movie release,
decreasing the wild populations of
Royal Blue Tangs. This is a fact;
something similar happened after
the movie premiere Finding Nemo.
Now it is urgent to highlight the
fact of extracting Royal Blue Tangs
and others reef fish using cyanide,
which might have impacted their
habitats.
In conclusion, it is very important
that people who want to keep a
Royal Blue Tang at home start
thinking about the natural status of this species and its vulnerability, because your decisions can help or

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TEACHERS’ VIEW
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MATHEMATICS + SUGGESTOPEDIA = WILL THEY WORK TOGETHER?
By: Willian Aristizábal, Basic Sciences
Candidate for Master in Education
Albert Einstein stated: "Do not worry about
your problems with mathematics, I can assure you
that mine are still greater‖. 1 For many people,
mathematics has been a headache during all their
lives. Many teachers struggle with their students
trying to make them understand some exercises,
and they get
frustrated because
the students
do not do
them properly,
or they just get
bored with the
topic. Therefore,
teachers
are desperately
looking for
strategies or
methodologies
to handle these
problems. A
methodology which might be useful for this purpose
is called suggestopedia.
Suggestopedia is a teaching method developed
by the Bulgarian psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov,
and it is mainly used in teaching foreign languages.
This method consists of setting a pleasant and comfortable
environment in a classroom 2 (classical or
other soft music could be used, or exercises where
the students imagine themselves in a relaxing cozy
atmosphere). Besides, it is possible to suggest that
learning can be fun through games, interaction and
competitions (like throwing a ball and asking questions
related to the topic being taught).
People are not used to making changes. Would
it be possible
for a math
teacher to implement
this
method in his/
her class? Of
course it is, but
it requires a creative,
fearless
and open minded
teacher. It
could be strange
or difficult at
the beginning
because it is not common to use music for relaxing
people in a math class, to play games with numbers
or set different contests, but it might work meanwhile
the technique is being developed.
In conclusion, a useful methodology for preventing
the students from feeling terrible at math
and to get engaged with it is Suggestopedia, because
of the positive learning environment that
1
Calaprice, Alice. The ultimate quotable Einstein. United States of America, 2011, p. 80.
2
Larsen-Freeman, Diane. Language Teaching Methods. Washington D.C. 20547, 1990, p. 26.
ustaspeaksvillavo@usantotomas.edu.co

TEACHERS’ VIEW
8
WE ARE ALL FEMINISTS;
THIS IS HOW IT APPLIES TO EVERYDAY LIFE
By: Daniel Reyes Pardo - Humanities
Candidate for Master in Latin American Studies
Feminism in Colombia, not to mention in
Villavicencio, is a taboo word and a ―radical‖ position.
However, this viewpoint is mainly due to a
misconception from the term and the ways that it
is used in mass media and common jargon. Nevertheless,
feminism is not only an identity, but a
way of living social relations among humans.
Firstly, feminism is a movement that aims for
an equity in social, economic and political practices
between genders. By that definition, many of
us are feminists, even though we hadn’t been
aware of it. Feminism is the deconstruction of
certain entitlements that we assume as biologic
and/or correct, such as: gender and sexual binaries,
social order, and power positions in everyday
life.
On the other hand, feminism is a political posture, and as such, it has many variations. Some of those
positions may take radical statements (for example, exposing half-naked bodies to protest patriarchy stereotypes).
Moreover, all of them aim to create a world of equity for genders. However, this complexity is not
seen by the general public or people outside academia. TV broadcast agencies reproduce a view of feminism
where it is seen as a group of lesbians who hate all males.
Finally, it would be proposed that we all call ourselves feminists, not only because we aim for a gender
equitable society, where gender won’t be a cause for social inequities, but because we should annihilate the

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By: Jorge Arturo Bolaños Briceño
Economist, Environmental Engineering Faculty
WhatsApp has become the
world’s most popular messaging
service, holding 1 billion users in
2016, resulting from a system
which allows people to keep in
touch with anyone without cost.
Unlike other free apps, it doesn’t
use advertising as its source of
income. So, how does WhatsApp
make money?
Since its creation, the company tried to charge people with one dollar per year, and even when some of
them paid for it, in the long term it did not work. So, is it a poor business?
The answer is investment
funds. Many investment funds put their money in companies with high growing expectative, in this case,
WhatsApp. What do they get in return? If the companies earn money or are sold, the fund gets profits based
upon the investment made on them. In 2014, WhatsApp was sold to Facebook for $19 billion USD, but the
initial investment was only $ 8 million USD.
IF WHATSAPP IS A FREE APP,
HOW DOES IT EARN MONEY?
Nowa-
days, according with a company statement, they are going to veri-
munication tools between users and organizations. In other
words, it would give the users a way to check unusual
transactions in their bank accounts, or get information
about airlines flight delays. In other words,
WhatsApp would offer a customer service frame
for companies. As we might expect, this professional
service would generate profits.
fy com-
To summarize, WhatsApp has used three ways to
get money. First, using a fee-based plan; second, being
the target of investment funds, and finally, reinventing
themselves as a professional services company.
www.idiomasustavillavo.com

STUDENTS’ INSIGHTS
STUDENTS’ INSIGHTS
10
PANEM ET CIRCENSES
Daniel Vizcaíno, Law student,
10 th semester
In recent days, it has been subject of national
interest the so-called «ideology of gender» and after
it, the Peace Agreement between Government
and FARC. These topics carry us toward a chaotic
situation where doubtfulness reigns, thanks to media
manipulation; and some over-populist politicians’
arguments, which take advantage of all circumstances
that surge from hate and other feelings
caused by 52-year long wounds that have not
scared, and religious fanaticism.
At first sight, it may seem that Colombia is a
well-formed constitutional democracy and an example
to follow by other nations in the region, but
from an analytic view, it is just a circus.
In modern democracies, it is almost impossible
for every citizen to be able to get himself or herself
involved in all political issues, because of selfstructure
of the 21 st century society. Just on account
of it, we elect representatives. We must understand
this: some people are not interested in politics
because their matters are staying on other topics,
and this is the reason why they are not concerned.
However, the citizen participation mechanisms
were stated in modern democracies as a method to
let the population to be directly involved in all
those debates that concern the administration of the
Republic (participative democracy). Our National
Assembly set them in Article 103 of the Constitution:
―[T]hey are participation mechanisms of the
populace in exertion of its sovereignty: the vote,
the plebiscite, the referendum, the popular consultation,
the open council meetings, the legislative
initiative and the recall. Law will rule them, ― and
indeed, law 134/1994 rules them.
My discourse is focused on two of them: referendum
and plebiscite. The first one is the convoking
done to the population to approve or reject a
bill, or repeal or not a law already into force. There
are two types of referendum: approbatory, which is
the submission to the populace consideration of a
legislative act or law to decide whether to approve
or reject it wholly or partially; and derogatory,
which consists of submitting to the populace con-

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sideration a law into force to be repealed. When a
referendum aims to reform the Constitution, the
constitutional tribunal must make a legal control
only to find procedure vices, different from the
control of constitutionality done over laws, because
that control aims to find vices in content and procedure.
On the other hand, plebiscite is the populace
pronouncement convoked by the President of the
Republic through which one supports or rejects
certain decisions of the Executive branch of Public
Power.
The vote is a mechanism of democratic participation,
by means of which a citizen elects a person,
rejects or supports an executive or legislative decision.
It is nowadays important in order to let every
citizen indirectly be able to intervene in the public
administration and the future of the State. That is
why we are convoked in some periods to elect candidates’
politic proposals.
Apart from that, representative democracy is a
system that operates the majorities decision in the
most of votes and elections (the half plus one), except
in those where a qualified vote or election is
required. This system presents the problem that the
citizens, who belong to those less than a half, could
be sometimes excluded, and their ideas and projects
with themselves, from the political and public
panorama, conceived as a minority with neither
vote nor voice.
Ad referendum
This year, the wrongly-self-called «liberal»
senator Viviane Morales has been the head of a
legislative initiative to forbid same sex couples
from adopting children through a referendum to
close the path the Constitutional Court has built
from this affair. Her reasons and arguments are
mainly based on moral populism to the detriment
of Colombian State secularity conception. Taking
this into account, it is
above all an injury
against classical liberalism
thought and philosophy,
and against the people
who belong to it.
Senator Viviane Morales
has promoted a legislative
initiative, collecting
citizens’ signatures –
2,300,000 signatures
were required, and suddenly,
she got them – to
bring forward to the Senate
a bill by means of
which the Congress,
once the bill passes and becomes a law into force,
convokes the Colombian population to approve a
modification of the Constitution in Article 44.
The bill «by means of which it convokes a
referendum and it is submitted to consideration of
population a bill of constitutional reform by which
it sets the adoption of minors only by couples constituted
between man and woman» brings in its single
article the addition of a paragraph to the Constitution,
Article 44: The adoption is a measure of
protection of the child that searches to guarantee
the right to have a family constituted by a heterosexual
couple into the explicit terms of the article
42 of the Constitution, that is, by a man and a
woman who united themselves in a marriage or
factual marital union, with the fulfilling of the rest

STUDENTS’ INSIGHTS
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requirements set in law; then, the question of the
approbatory referendum is: Do you approve the
previous paragraph? Yes / No / Blank vote.
The bill has passed its First Debate in the Seventh
Commission of Senate, and will be studied in
the Second Debate by the Plenary Senate; by the
way, this bill must pass two other debates in Senate
and four in House of Representatives and an automatic
and previous legal control of constitutionality,
because it behoves to the Constitutional Court
to decide, previously the popular pronouncement,
about the constitutionality of the convoking of a
referendum to reform the Constitution – here the
bill dies –.
Firstly, we must claim the senator is «working
hard» to «defend the institution of family» from the
«ideology of gender promoted by the Minister of
Education» Gina Parody (who resigned this week
after the plebiscite failure), of famed homosexual
orientation, which has caused such scandal, and
diverse reactions against, principally from conservative
sectors that tearing their hair are proclaiming
the end of Colombia, forgetting the Constitutional
Court jurisprudence about family conception,
especially the sentence C-577/11, where
this tribunal considered family is not only set by
mother, father and children.
The scandal was the distribution of explicit
sexual content books by Ministry of National Education,
which has denied that distribution in public
schools and the imposition of an ideology of gender,
through its official pronouncements, as though
a child for looking at a sexual content book could
become gay – if this is true, why have not gays become
heterosexuals? – or as though it were a contagious
illness, gotten by looking at some pages
with the teaching of respect of others’ sexual diversity
and differences. Nevertheless, those books,
according to the Ministry, were not ever distributed,
and it was a ―massive manipulation‖ from some
populist politicians.
On the other hand, Constitutional Court has
said that mechanisms of democratic participation
cannot be exerted either to limit or deny rights, personally
considering this bill is utterly discriminatory
not only against same sex couples, but also
against single parents, because it does not allow the
opportunity to adopt children unless a person is
married or in a factual union with another person
of the contrary sex. Indeed, we must start with saying
this is another absurd idea from our dear and
over-worried lawmakers, especially a «liberal» one
who alleges family must be protected, with the
support of some religious sectors that aim to impose
their religion convictions by force, claiming
majority is democracy. Sometimes I get actually
surprised of double standards of some Colombian
people, because with an address, they are claiming
for recovering moral and religious values, and otherwise,
they are acting against scriptural injunctions
they predicate of.
The bill will be submitted to popular consideration,
and it seems to be obvious that the populace
would approve, because the traditional majority is
able to support the initiative, considering that
Christian churches and conservative sectors are a
majority and discard the recent jurisprudence about
LGBT rights, and the clamour to recover those
good manners of Colombia, and yes! The majority
can express its will; with the referendum, the reform
would be approved… but the actual trouble
and the future of the bill is visible and clear: it will
not ever come into force, because it is sure that the
Constitutional Court will not pronounce a sentence
favourably, taking into account that referendum is
discriminatory and restrictive of human rights, and
before voting, the Court previously will pronounce
about the bill’s constitutionality. Here is born a legal
issue where there exists a point of stress: the
legitimation of the population to take decisions
about the Constitutions in exertion of its popular
sovereignty, and the wide Court’s powers to safeguard
and interpret the Constitution.
Therefore, the question is: Is the high constitutional
tribunal legitimated to disapprove a decision
taken through a mechanism of democratic partici-

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pation like referendum, even though a majority voted,
regardless restricting rights, taking into account
they are just nine members of the Court, and
millions of citizens who vote?
This question may be answered affirmatively
because of these reasons: the Constitution set the
participative democracy, separated the Church
from the State recognizing the freedom of faith,
and created a Tribunal to safeguard the self Carta
Magna. Constitutional Court has had an important
role in democracy by means of its wise sentences,
while in its existence it has dignified Colombian
people, pronouncing decisions, sheltering rights,
and protecting them particularly from state agents
and public servants,
especially on rights
to life and work,
healthcare and labour
rights, children
rights, displaced
people by violence
and protection from
conflict, etc., and
LGBT civil rights,
protecting minorities
like indigenous
and afrodescendant
communities
(minorities).
All that interpreting the spirit of the Constitution
in order to protect and reclaim human rights,
and following the new constitutionalism thoughts,
because, even if a majority has expressed its sovereign
decision, it would not be allowed for collective
and individual consciousness the egoist decision
from some sectors of population prevail over
minorities rights, neither limit nor restrict them,
because in many cases, majority is not right, even
in a country like Colombia, where the ordinary citizen
is not educated to respect diversity and differences,
but believes himself to be entitled to impose
his conceptions and ideas. So as a result, the Constitutional
Court is legitimated even to discard a
popular initiative to reform the Constitution, because
modern democracy is not majority, such as
conceived National Assembly; democracy is consensus,
in protection of essential and human rights,
democracy shall not use to smash a minority by a
majority… that is the key: consensus.
Plebis scitum
Despite the reactions and media promotion, the
present topic is the plebiscite convoked by President
Juan Manuel Santos to countersign the Final
agreement to end the armed conflict and build a
stable and lasting peace reached with FARC-EP
after four years of dealing and negotiations.
First of all, noteworthy
media, the
Government, and
opposition manipulation
were the factors
that carried
toward the failure
to countersign the
Peace Agreement
due to: President
Juan Manuel Santos
is one of the
worst and less popular
presidents the Republic has had, owing to the
fact that is incongruent to his speeches and acts; he
is a spendthrift of public resources, ungitimated the
national peasant strike, does not show a strong
character to deal with some difficult situations, and
sold one of the most important elecricity public
companies; in his Government time, many strikes
have been carried out by many economic sectors,
etc. and seems to be a person unable and unqualified
to preside Colombia.
President Santos pretended to sell the fake belief
Since October 2 nd that Colombia would be a peaceful
paradise, where there would not be social
prolems, as though October 2 nd were the Frabjous
Day from Alice in Wonderland, as if Colombia
became a paradise with no violence. The President
Offered «the Peace», not the agreements’ counte

STUDENTS’ INSIGHTS
STUDENTS’ INSIGHTS 14
sign.
Former president Alvaro Uribe seems to be the obsessed
ex-girlfriend who has not gotten over the
breaking up of her last relationship, promoting the
NO vote to plebiscite, alleging the agreement
Brings impunity; majority said NO to countersigning
the agreement; he won, but now, after severe
and serious critics from his part, he does not have
any different or good proposal to renegotiate with
the Government and FARC.
Others, even with perturbed ideas, claimed Co
lombia would become another Venezuela, FARC
demobilized members would be paid around two
million pesos monthly as salary, the public power
would be given to FARC – as if an ordinary
citizen were determine to vote on them – and
another out of mind ideas.
Colombian people are not used to reading
(folkloric) neither a summary, and I guess they
never read the Peace Agreement, as an informed
citizen with conviction and knowledge about
what is his decision about and what is considera
bly reasonable for the Nation.
That Peace Agreement, in its first point which
obligates the State to do something, is already obligated
to, and the Constitution ordains: stimulate the
agrarian sector and recognize the main role of
peasants, with the Integral Rural Reform.
Secondly, there is not any ideology of gender
into the agreement – it happens when people are
not bothered to read and understand – there is an
emphasis of gender coming from the concern the
women have been the main victims of armed conflict,
they have been the ones who have suffered
the horror of war, losing their families (sons,
daughters, husbands, fathers, mothers, dignity because
of violation) and their lands by dispossession.
Throughout the text, we can find the word
«gender» referring to the emphasis of gender, in
order to restore women’ rights victims of violence,
and not referring to the ideology of gender, like
some paranoiac Conservatives pretend to interpret,
particularly the former General Inspector
Alejandro Ordoñez, of famed Catholic beliefs and
leaders of Christian churches, alleging it is within
the Agreement hidden into the subtle speech of
«emphasis of gender».
Additionally, the power would not be ever given
to FARC, firstly because it must be delivered democratically,
and to get it democratically, they must
be elected, and the population’s aversion against
FARC would never let them get more than one seat
in any of both Congress houses, and knowing this,
the benefit that was set in Peace Agreement was
the political participation assuring FARC born politic
party to have five seats in Senate and five seats
in House of Representatives since 2018 as a method
to begin their insertion in legal political stages
without violence.

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The reason why the President convoked the plebiscite
has its own political and legal basis, particularly
the Constitution Article 104 «[t]he President
of the Republic, will may consult the populace decisions
of national transcendence» and indeed, he
did it, but despite abusing public resources to support
the countersign, the majority, not Colombia,
said NO, as a result of not reading and media and
opposition manipulation.
Consequently, after the NO victory, opposition is
supposed to express their proposals, but they are
just like Nemo and his friends after escaping from
the office fish tank: now what? They have really
weak arguments, nothing different from the stipulation
or the Agreement… perhaps to change the
font style, include stronger penalties, if they don’t
know, I the least.
Transitional justice
Transitional justice is a parallel system of justice
– not a special kind of justice – that pursues
political targets by implementing a transition from
conflict to institutional stability, driven to solve
non-international conflicts, created exceptionally
because of its role being mainly political instead of
legal. This justice applies in cases of grave and serious
human rights abuses and commission of
crimes against humanity and crimes of war, the
punishment of those behaviours and the transition
to end the conflict.
There are international standards that transitional
justice systems must fulfill:
A real judgment: a trial shall be actually carried
out, and from it, there must result a criminal sa
Tion (penalty) Criminal sanctions shall be altern
tive: the penalty may be of whatever nature, and
must not involve impunity, setting a minimum line
quantum for the sanction.
The victims shall intervene in the conflict resol
tion: (i) to find the real truth – the offenders must
confess their crimes – and (ii) to indemnify injries.
In order to the transition to peace, the agreement
also created the Especial Jurisdiction for
Peace, a system where the victims would be (would
because the institutional crisis aims to avoid the
application of the agreement) entitled to know the
truth, to get soon justice, to reparation and no repetition:
victims are the reason of point 5 «justice»;
into that point, rebels would be beneficiary of general
indults and amnesties, acts of grace only for
political crimes (rebellion, sedition) with the allowance
of Constitution, Title VI, Chapter 3 «Of
laws», article 150, numeral 17: it behoves to Congress
make laws. Through the exertion of the following
functions: 17. Concede […] by grave reasons
of public coexistence, general amnesties and
indults for political crimes.
Not every penalty must be paid in jail, and
crimes against humanity and of war are imprescriptible.
The agreement fits the international
standards, otherwise the International Criminal
Court and United Nations would not ever approve
it.
Conclusions (finally)
To conclude, the winners here were the abstention
and hate: it is shocking 63% of voters did not
vote in the plebiscite, they demonstrated they give
a damn; the «majority» like they call itself is not
really one, at least it showed statistics; Colombia’s
biggest trouble is not war, is not FARC, is the oligarchy
and no-reconciliation, taking into account
the municipalities and regions more affected by
violence voted YES in plebiscite to countersign the
agreement, victims forgive their victimizers, while
city dwellers do not, after FARC heads apologized
to victims under the view of the international community.
In fact, problems in cities and in the whole
country, more than FARC, are corrupt politicians;
why deny some seats in Congress to FARC members
if the Congress is not home of wise philosophers,
who look for common good and a better
country, just reminding some of them do not attend
sessions (absenteeism), do not read the reforms to

TEACHERS’ VIEW
16
Bibliography
Political Constitution of Colombia, Title IV, Chapter 1, article 103.
Proyecto de ley 001 de 2016, Senado de la República.
Constitución Política de Colombia, Título VIII, Capítulo 4, artículo 241.
Corte Constitucional de Colombia, Sentencia C-577/11.
Ministry of National Education press release: http://www.mineducacion.gov.co/1759/w3-article-357802.html
Decreto 1391 de 2016, Presidencia de la República.
Acuerdo final para la terminación del conflicto y la construcción de una paz estable y duradera, punto 3.2.1.2.a.
I would like to make a precise reference to one of the latest films I have
seen: Fargo (1996), written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. This
film is a dark comedy that portrays a series of crime stories about some
roadside homicides in Minnesota. The plot involves a pregnant police
chief (Frances McDormand) who investigates a struggling car salesman
(William H. Mancy), who pays two criminals (Steve Buscemi and
Peter Stormare) for the kidnapping of his wife in the aim of extracting
his father-in-law (Harve Presnell) a wealthy ransom.
I have chosen this film not only because it was very entertaining and
fun, but also because in the beginning, the following warning can be
read: ―This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in
Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have
been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly
as it occurred‖ (Fargo, 1996), a disclaimer that clarifies that it is a work of fiction. In this sense, the films
develops a conscious composition of nuances of what might be real and what might be fictitious, so when
someone sees it, questions arise such as: is this a real person, and did this happen to someone in real life,
are always ahead.
PROTECTING THE PEOPLE AND LETTING THEIR STORIES BE TOLD
By: Magdalena Aguilar Sánchez
Law Faculty-Lawyer, Specialist in Public Law
-MY OPINION ON ARTISTIC LICENSES-
The most interesting characteristic of the film is that the artists (Joel and Ethan) don’t precipitate and
answer these questions with clichés and obvious dramatic twists. Instead, they let us linger and create a
perfect blend of reality and fiction. First, they used local scenery and simple actions to create an atmosphere
of credibility, but they play with us at the same time with a great tale-telling of extraordinary twists
and unexpected reactions. Second, they used common characters as policemen, salesmen, traditional criminals
but each of them inhabits this very peculiar and strange world in a non-classical way. Third, although
in some interviews and DVD extras they claimed the use of facts and real murder stories, their choices in
mixing the events have the intention to promote a reflection within an aesthetic of humour and unpredictability
and not to celebrate violence or to rant about some moralistic tale about real people’s flaws and vices.
In conclusion, to me the artistic license, whether it is changing the names or creating some events, can
be unlimited to the logic of the world that the filmmakers depict, as long as they don’t make a eulogy of the
wrong and evil or try to encourage racism, bigotry, homophobia or other forms of exclusion. The cinematographic
adaptations must always have respect for the dead, and also for the living.